The
wind howled through the trees, flickering the flame of the small
campfire that burned beneath the branches. A single figure sat
huddled near the fire, trying to absorb as much of its heat as
possible. As the fire began to die, the figure stood, and walked
into the trees. While the figure stooped to pick up a branch from
the ground, the wind blew back the cowl of his cloak. White hair
lifted in the wind and blew wildly. Dark-skinned hands carried the
branch back to the campfire, and fed it to the flames.

When
the fire calmed, Drizzt sat back, leaning against the trunk of the
tree behind him. Tonight was one of his windiest nights on the
surface yet. In the caverns of the Underdark, no winds blew chilled
air, and no fires were needed to protect from the cold. There was no
cold.

As
Drizzt leaned his head against the tree, he mused over the strange
wind. Sometimes it sounded almost like screaming. Drizzt's
sensitive ears pricked up. That wind didn't just sound like
screaming, it was screaming. The dark elf leapt to his feet,
and kicked dirt onto his fire, so it wouldn't interfere with his
night vision. Drizzt began to climb the tree he had been sitting
against. When he reached the top, standing on branches barely thick
enough to support his weight, Drizzt could see over the forest. Not
too far away were flames, leaping out of a clearing. Cursing, Drizzt
jumped to the ground. He recognized the clearing even from this
distance; it held a small elven settlement that he had passed by
earlier that day. Without pausing, the dark elf began sprinting
through the tangled trees, headed for the fire. The screaming
continued as he ran, and it only encouraged him to run faster. When
he reached the fiery clearing, he paused, and tried to make out the
figures rushing back and forth, through and around the flames.

Some
of the figures seemed to be elves. They were the ones who were
screaming. Behind them came silent figures. Drizzt cursed again,
quietly. Drow. They were attacking this settlement of elves,
slaughtering them all. Checking his first impulse, which had been to
rush directly in, Drizzt thought quickly. Wrapping his cloak around
him, Drizzt ran around the edge of the clearing, then stopped short.
Ahead he saw an elven girl being chased by a drow warrior. Drizzt
darted out into the clearing, and jumped in front of the pursuer.
"She is mine!" he growled, in the language of the drow. The
words sounded strange to him after his time on the surface. As he
spoke, Drizzt drew his scimitars and lunged at the other drow.
Although he was startled by the outburst, the other dark elf didn't
show it, merely laughed, and said, "Don't worry, abbil.
There's enough for everyone!" The drow's next laugh was cut
short by Drizzt's scimitar, opening his throat.

Drizzt
turned away from the falling corpse, only to see the little elven
girl stop, a drow priestess before her. Drizzt ran forward, but it
was too late. The priestess shouted a spell, and the girl was
knocked backward by its force. Leaping over her still body, Drizzt
stood in front of the priestess, his lavender eyes blazing. "She
was mine!" he snarled, stepping forward. "You were too slow,"
said the priestess with a laugh. Drizzt laughed too. "You are
right," he said. "There are plenty of others to kill here."
The priestess' nod of agreement was halted by the press of Drizzt's
blade beneath her chin. "Others like you!" he shouted, and
snapped her head around with a kick, then stabbed her through the
heart. Drizzt looked up from the corpse to see other drow warriors
approaching. He casually wiped his blade on the priestess' cloak
before turning to face them. Before they could question him, he
said, "She stole my kill." He motioned to the figure of the
elven child on the ground. "She was a priestess of Lloth!" said
a warrior angrily. He glared at Drizzt for a few moments, until his
attention was commanded by the arrival of another priestess, as was
evident from her elaborate robes. The new priestess glanced casually
down at her dead colleague. "She was killed by an elven witch.
We will say no more." She motioned imperiously at the warriors,
including Drizzt. "Come. We will leave this foul surface world
and return to Ched Nasad." She began to stalk away. Her warriors
fell into line behind her, as did Drizzt, who didn't want to be
noticed as he slipped away. He followed their line until they
reached a cave which he knew would lead back to the Underdark, and
then quietly slipped away, as the other drow entered one by one.

Filled
with grief for the events that had just occurred, Drizzt slowly made
his way back to the elven village. As he walked, he contemplated
what had befallen. He knew that he had been lucky to escape the
wrath of the second priestess, and knew he had only done so because
the first priestesses' death happened to suit the second's
aspirations. Finally, as dawn broke over the forest, Drizzt arrived
back at the clearing, which now only held corpses, and the ashes of
the past.

abbil-friend

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